How they see it in the South
O'Neill, Norris L.
Part of that past is embodied in the person of the Reverend Ian Paisley, a seventy-two-year-old, Bob Jones University-educated evangelist who has generated broad populist appeal in times of...
...But even looking at the immediate past we see signs that bitterness was not universal...
...While Trimble tried to explain arcane constitutional changes in the agreement at campaign stops, the "no" campaign had the advantage of a simple and visceral message: "Keep terrorists out of government...
...A nonsectarian college for 4,000 students open to both "sides" is planned for the North...
...an Ireland of new bars, restaurants, and boutiques...
...But he must also help keep Adams and McGuinness close to power as they adapt to the world of high politics...
...And prisoner releases, scheduled to take place within two years, is another highly contentious issue that Trimble is attempting to link to arms surrender...
...They were referring to Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, and Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein's chief negotiator and reputed ex-IRA commander...
...The agreement puts in place a jerry-built system of fragmented but shared responsibility...
...Britain has recently promised to pump $160 million into Northern Ireland...
...Additionally, in Catholic communities the 95-percent Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary is considered an oppressive police force that must be disbanded...
...He had to shout to reporters as a British Army helicopter hovered overhead, virtually drowning out his voice...
...The extremists will not magically disappear.Terrorists on both sides have historically dipped into crime: drugs, prostitution, and theft...
...The June 25 assembly elections will be the most important and hard-fought elections in the history of Northern Ireland...
...British Prime Minister Tony Blair traveled to Northern Ireland three times in the two weeks before the election to reassure Unionists that the link with Great Britain was safe as long as the majority of people in Northern Ireland desired it...
...Four days before the election, he met in Omagh with the local Orange Order, a Protestant fraternal organization best known for sponsoring provocative parades through Catholic neighborhoods during the summer "marching season...
...It's difficult to say whether Northern Ireland has wrenched itself away from the recalcitrant clutch of its bitter history...
...When the euphoria dissipates a bit, the people of Ireland will retain warm memories of America's George Mitchell, whose wisdom and patience kept the negotiations going through the intransigence and the prima donna displays--and despite the ghastly memories of the recent past...
...In the 3.5 million Republic, 6 million tourists are expected this year...
...For Hume, the referendum is the culmination of years of tireless nonviolent political work [see, Mary Pat Kelly, "A Different Kind of Politics," Commonweal, December 14,1984...
...It was not a scene that engendered a sense of serenity in the minds of Unionist voters...
...Some, looking at the very large vote favoring the agreement, have said, simplistically, "It was the economy, stupid...
...Sinn Fein has to deliver economic and political gains to a How they see i t i n the South _9 was lucky enough to spend two weeks in Ireland last month just before and after the May 22 vote on the Northern Ireland peace agreement...
...But it is clear that most of the people of Northern Ireland are willing to give this peace a chance...
...The Ireland of today is not the Ireland of'the jaunting cart, but the Ireland of a Catholic mayor in Belfast...
...Sinn Fein's "voice" must be heard for dramatic "changes on the ground" to take place, legitimizing Sinn Fein's drift into parliamentary politics...
...That will not end soon...
...This should bolster the economic position of the Republic, furthering Ireland's modern image as the "Celtic Tiger...
...the Order of Saint Lazarus for resurrecting the talks time and time again...
...He also stated he would initiate legislation in Parliament to strengthen provisions in the agreement to keep anyone associated with paramilitary activity out of the new assembly...
...Moreover, there is to be a thorough review of the criminal justice system in the North...
...The war will not be over until the British are gone," he said...
...of participation in the European economic community...
...There are other bright lights on the horizon...
...The United States and the World Bank have pledged $325 million in aid to the North...
...The thought of Adams running part of the government makes a substantial body of Protestants in the North apoplectic...
...Any future union must come by a vote of both the North and the Republic...
...But the alternative to a broad-based political solution is continued war...
...Trust can only come from contact:, working together...
...Trimble, the likely first minister in the new government, has stated that decommissioning of arms must take place prior to the establishing of the Executive Committee of Ministers, a position that the IRA will never accept...
...His focus on Protestant historical grievance and political insecurity has generated a voter base that had surprised both Protestant and Catholic opponents...
...As the Irish would say, "Lovely...
...But limbo is greatly preferable to the war of attrition that has claimed more than 3,000 lives over the past thirty years...
...the Job Award for his patience, humility, and perseverance in a terrible situation...
...A few nights after the historic vote, I attended a large panel discussion in Dublin about the probable effects of the referendum...
...In the Republic, the vote was only to change the Constitution to eliminate the claim of a legal right to a united Ireland, and that only if the peace agreement were accepted in the North would the Republic be bound by it...
...success could not have been achieved in the poverty and unemployment of the past...
...His speech was vintage Paisley--a bellowing Talmudic dissection of the peace document that was "stamped with the words of murderers and liars...
...The improved economy throughout Ireland certainly helped, and maybe the referendum's Commonweal | 0 June 19,1998 membership base that has deep skepticism regarding the liberating potential of Northern Ireland political institutions...
...There is soon to be a cross-border fishing agreement...
...Commonweal | | June 19,1998...
...Over beers at the Telstar Pub in working-class Derry, Gary Donnelly, a young construction worker and veteran of the notorious Maze Prison, said he was voting no...
...At a polling station in East Belfast, a self-described Unionist voter stated that "Ian Paisley doesn't speak for all Protestants here, and when it comes right down to it, he doesn't offer a real alternative...
...Part of that past is embodied in the person of the Reverend Ian Paisley, a seventy-two-year-old, Bob Jones University-educated evangelist who has generated broad populist appeal in times of political crisis...
...The agreement commits both Northern Ireland and the Republic to establish four institutions: a North/South Multi-Level Council, a British-Irish Council, a British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, and implementation bodies through which cooperation will take place on a cross-border, all-island level...
...Adams welcomed the strong "vote for peace" but added that the political status of the North was still "in limbo," a delicate way of saying that a great deal of pressure must be applied both inside and outside the new political institutions to achieve real progress...
...This agreement does not face up to the core issue...
...The critical issues that were left ambiguous in the peace document will now have to be dealt with...
...You would not have lost money betting that previous attempts at reconciliation would somehow break down...
...a prize for his discipline in not revealing his own feelings about the participants...
...Unemployment is down, and the economies are up...
...At an election-day press conference, Adams said that it was "time to push forward an equality agenda that is essential for pushing the peace process forward...
...Sinn Fein did not even campaign for the referendum...
...or serving together on a hospital board...
...And in early July, the Unionist "marching season" begins, characterized by the Orange Order parades through many Catholic areas...
...As leaders of the largest Catholic party, a point often missed by the American media's focus on Adams, he will likely be elected first deputy minister, the second highest office in the new assembly...
...It was striking that all the speakers were positive about the vote...
...of young people, nose rings and tattoos...
...There is no declaration of British intent to withdraw...
...In addition, on May 22, to help all of Ireland, the people of the Republic clearly endorsed the Amsterdam Treaty by 61.7 percent of the vote...
...Kelly Candaele is a free-lance writer from Los Angeles who has written extensively on Irish politics and history...
...The party was officially "neutral" in deference to the large number of Sinn Fein supporters who questioned both entry into Northern Ireland government and the acceptance of a deal that fell far short of a united Ireland...
...That agreement broadens the number of countries in the European Union and ties Ireland more securely to it...
...People of good will on both sides of this bloody conflict are going to have to begin to trust one another...
...NORRIS L. O'NEILL Norris L. O'Neill lives in West Hartford, Connecticut...
...being in a club, school, or union...
...of a merger of the Boy Scouts from the North and from the Republic...
...It will be the first crucial test of whether new political arrangements can ameliorate this yearly ritualized street conflict between deeply divided communities...
...Both the "no" voters and the "yes" voters were optimistic...
...There also will be a new power-sharing assembly, sitting in the North, elected by proportional representation...
...As a "safer" nationalist than Adams, Hume will be the primary intermediary with the Unionists...
...The "yes" campaign's task was made more difficult a week-and-a-half before the election when IRA prisoners, released on a one-day leave, were enthusiastically welcomed at the Sinn Fein conference that endorsed the party's entry into the Northern Ireland Assembly...
...And finally, a simple medal for courage...
...I have heard Mitchell mentioned for the Nobel Peace Prize, but I think he should get special prizes: a prize for a display of great "lawyering" by keeping out of the media spotlight and giving that to his "clients...
...It is likely that at least Adams will become a minister in a Northern Irish Executive Committee after the June 25 assembly elections...
...For example, two sisters of the murdered Protestant terrorist Billy Wright are married to Catholics...
...of cellular phones...
...and of technological revolution...
...Catholics in Northern Ireland are twice as likely to be unemployed as their Protestant counterparts...
...It was an appropriate metaphor for the challenge Adams faces in the new Northern Ireland Assembly...
Vol. 125 • June 1998 • No. 12
